African Clawed Frog: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Frogs · day 6 of 7

Five facts

1. Clawed frogs have no tongue, so they grab food with their hands and shovel it into their mouths.
2. Clawed frogs find prey by smell and with their lateral line, not by eyesight like other frogs.
3. In a drought, clawed frogs can burrow into the mud and stay dormant for up to a year.
4. Each season they moult, then gobble up the old skin.
5. In the 1930s, researchers found that urine from pregnant women made this frog lay eggs. It became the first widely used pregnancy test.

The quiz

1. Why do clawed frogs use their hands to eat?

• They have no tongue (correct)
• They have no teeth
• They cannot swallow
• They have no mouth muscles

They have no tongue to catch food, so they grab it by hand.

2. What do clawed frogs use to find prey, besides smell?

• Their tongue
• Their lateral line (correct)
• Heat sensors
• Their ears

Living in water, they track prey by smell and with the lateral line instead of by sight.

3. How long can a clawed frog stay dormant in the mud during a drought?

• Up to a week
• Up to a month
• Up to a year (correct)
• Up to ten years

They can burrow into the mud and stay dormant for up to a year.

4. What do clawed frogs do with their shed skin?

• Bury it
• Use it as a nest
• Leave it floating
• Eat it (correct)

Every season they moult and then eat the old skin.

5. What did this frog help create in the 1930s?

• A weather forecast
• A pregnancy test (correct)
• A vaccine
• A fishing lure

Pregnant women's urine made it lay eggs, giving the first widely used pregnancy test.

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